Ultra Runners

No Daddy you can't go off the slider Box (Read 95 times)

DoppleBock

posted: 3/21/2013 at 10:23 AM

When our family ski's I ski a lot with my 12 YO daugher Erin. I have always been a jumper. I rarely have seen a jump that I do not like. Where we have season passes they also have terrain parks - All sorts of rails and slider boxes. I am very comfortable in the air flying, but have never used the terrain park features.

Last Saturday I decided it was time to use the slider boxes. Erin hated it as I was often off balance. Then I went off one that was pretty high off the ground ~ maybe 4-5 feet at the end of the 20 foot box. I ended up off balance and pushed off the end of the box akwardly to not crash on the box. Landed on a mound of snow/ice on the small of my back. It is black and then below the black it is numb.

Erin was yelling at me that she told me not to go off and was starting to lecture until I looked up at her like a beaten dog asking for a moment to see if I was hurt or injured.

I think I am just hurt, but could not run until last night.

I did 12 painful and slow miles (9:00 pace) every time I did not havemy back perfectly straight it was like an ice pick in my lumbar / high glute area.

So I figure I should be good to go for Clinton Lakes 30 this Saturday.

Sorry to hear about your accident. When it comes to skiing, I am also someone who can't resist a new challenge - I have had my share of weird falls and crashes, and the resulting aches and pains, and I can truly relate to your pain after that (probably spectacular) tumble.
Do you think your tailbone could be broken? Chances are you'd have heard a "pop" when it happened, and you'd have a very hard time sitting or gatting up (especially on soft surfaces).
The pain you describe makes me think you could have ruptured a disc, or some part of a vertebrae, which is now pinching a nerve, causing that schiatic-like pain. It is definitely something that should get x-rayed or MRI-ed. If the tailbone is broken, there's not much that can be done. It takes about 3 to 4 months to get better, and much longer to heal (mine still left some residual pain with certain movements, 5 years after the fracture).
If it is a soft tissue injury, pinching on the nerve, or a fractured (compressed) vertebrae, you might need surgery to avoid permanent nerve damage.
If you are lucky, the whole thing is just a huge bruise, exerting temporary pressure on the nerves, which will heal up on its own. But if it was me, I' have it checked in the ER.
To relieve the pain, put on ice, often, but be careful not to burn your skin. Take pain reliever (Motrin helped me well, 600 mg) if you need to, e.g. to get through the work day. If sitting is bad, get a "boppy pillow" (huge, crescent-shaped pillow). Works well in the car, too
I'd have skipped the race, but that's just me. Hope you'll be better soon!

Run for fun.

DoppleBock

posted: 3/25/2013 at 4:40 PM

I managed the 30 mile trail race - Really painful on the quads, but the back pain was manageable.

Now that the bruising pain is letting up, I have 2 hot spots. One that could be a tailbone problem and the other could either be a fractured vertabrae or disk issue.

I did find out that being fat and undertrained makes for a painful day after a 30 mile trail race. There were 3x 10 mile laps.

Lap #1 = 1:38

Lap # 2 = 1:44 (plus 2 minutes messing around in car to change etc)

Lap #3 = 1:41 (Plus 1 minute messing around in car)

Running 5:13 + 3 minutes dicking around in car using it as a drop bag / aide station = 5:16

Probably 1 hour slower than I should run it if I was in shape, but I did not leave much on the course. I would have to say it was almost the best I could do being fat and out of shape. I was red-lining the whole last lap. The course was frozen the 1st lap. the 2nd is was a little muddy on mostly uphills, by the 3rd lap is was very squishy - slippy mud on the a lot of the uphills ~ I had to grab a few trees just to make it up.

Nice race - Nice day - Good to hang out with Andy, Chad and the LPT runners for beer post race.

I am calling this my last ultra - Time to retire ... maybe for every, maybe like Bret Favre?

See, the problem is the sky's the limit with these types of events. Where does one draw the line? For me, I think it's likely at 100 miles, or for timed races, 24 hours. I did run every step of that 12-hour, but I can't see doing that for 24 anyway -- there would have to be some walking at the least. Right?? Unless I am DoppleBock, or Jurek, or Kouros, which I'm not.

I keep thinking of doing the 6 Day in April. It is right around my birthday every year so I would feel like I was giving myself a present. I have gone over to check it out and cheer on the runners. 1 mile loop over by the old World's Fair area.